


Bound for Life and Beyond Reason

by HoneyBeeez



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Hunting, M/M, Use your imagination, also: blood??, bows and arrows are cool, dragon!AU, more like they will get together eventually. itll happen but, not here, their relationship is more implied at the end, this was a request posted on tumblr and they said it was okay for me to post it here too!, village life back in the olden days is nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 20:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10704876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyBeeez/pseuds/HoneyBeeez
Summary: Kentarou lives in a time where dragons are loathed, feared, and generally looked at as a menace to human existence itself. Too bad for him that he thinks they're the most fascinating things he will ever know.And too bad for him he happens to be tied to one inexplicably. But, of course, he doesn't know that yet.(The Dragon!AU that at least someone asked for and that i didn't know i was dying to write)





	Bound for Life and Beyond Reason

**Author's Note:**

> SO I WAS ASKED FOR A DRAGON!AU BY THE AMAZING QUEERBATNANA ON TUMBLR AND I GOT A LITTLE OVEREXCITED HERE YA GO

If Kentarou thinks hard enough, he can pinpoint the moment he actually condemns the rest of his life, and it just so happens to be the earliest memory he can remember.

A silver stone, with an engraved golden, swirling pattern all over it, sat not too far from his house at the edge of the village. He was small, around three or four, he can never remember exactly. What he does remember is teetered out and picking it up.

The stone was bigger than both his fists and, despite its size, it was incredibly feather-light and pleasantly warm. He gasped and giggled at it, loving how it glinted in the sunlight and how the ridges of gold felt underneath his wandering fingers.

It was only when he pressed his ear to it, thinking that, like the rumors of seashells holding the sounds of the ocean, the rock would carry the sounds of the earth, did his little mind think it was more than a rock. Because the moment he pressed his ear to it, its warmth climbed to a scorching heat, like putting your hands too close to the fire and having the flames trying to lick at them.

In the same moment, his uncle, Kiyoshi, called out to him. Kentarou dropped the rock in shock, from the call and the warmth, and it oddly shook and rolled away to the edge of the woods even though the land was perfectly level. Kiyoshi gathered him up and led him back inside.

So, Kentarou guesses now, its only fate that he grows up to be in love with the only things that seem to be the bane of everyone else’s existence: dragons. They barely attack the village, not anymore, not since the people fought back and they learned to stay away from humans _or else_. Instead, they fished their oceans and the smaller ones picked off the forest game they could get to. The dragons made food besides anything they could grow hard to come by, and many still thought they should be killed in cold blood for making their lives miserable.

But Kyoutani thought they were beautiful. He wandered into the woods the moment the sun broke the horizon and emptied the traps the other villagers set out (they were all too stupid to set traps that would kill the dragons in sight, too sadistic that they would want to kill the _beasts_ themselves, so it made Kentarou’s job easier). His acts of kindness never made the dragons less wary of him, but it certainly made them accept his help quicker. All his efforts ever got him was a quick glance and a flurry of wings as they fled, but it was all the same; Kyoutani couldn’t shake these creatures, and they couldn’t shake them, not if they wanted to live.

But it started, oddly enough, when Kentarou became aware of the streak of silver at the edge of his vision as he released the dragons from the traps every morning.

He noticed it once, then twice, and then it became a commonplace thing. Anytime he was in or at the edge of the forest, he would see the blur of silver in is peripheral no matter how hard he tried to catch a better glimpse of it. The whole thing would have bothered him to no end if he didn’t assume it was a dragon in the first place.

_A dragon following him around? He must be the luckiest dragon-lover ever!_

* * *

When Kentarou turned sixteen, Kiyoshi believed he was old enough to start helping out the village.

“You spend time in tha’ damned forest often ‘nough, why not try shootin’ a lil’ game to sell in the marketplace? And shoot summa those demons, while you’re at it! Gods know we need less a’them!”

And that’s how Kentarou found himself with a bow and arrow, a new knife, and a whole lot more free time in the forest.

Truth be told, there wasn’t much game to look out for. The dragons picked off most of the bigger stuff, like deer, elk, even bears and coyotes, that would have brought in a fortune large enough to carry them both for at least three months, maybe more. All that were left were birds, rabbits, and the occasional squirrel or chipmunk, which weren’t much but at least they were _something_.

His first day hunting had him nestled flat on a boulder, scanning the area for anything that moved with an arrow already nocked on his string. He didn’t have to glance to the side to know the streak-of-silver dragon was near, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t tempting. He would’ve, but he could practically feel its eyes burning holes through him, and he didn’t want to scare it off.

It took about a week of nothing, about a week of scouting out almost every part of the forest he could think of that had _some_ promise, before he started getting a little bit of results.

He was perched in a tree with a low enough branch when a startled rabbit dash through the bushes. Elated, he took barely a second to draw and aim before releasing. The arrow stuck true, latching onto the rabbit’s gut and making it topple over, lifeless.

Kentarou launched himself off the tree branch, sticking his landing on the leaf-buried forest floor, and jogged over to the rabbit. When he retrieved his arrow and wiped it on the edge of his tunic, it was only then that he spotted the brilliant silver outline of a dragon through the trees, soaring in the opposite direction. He blinked, stunned, before making the rabbit’s gash wider, tying its tail to a piece of twine, and hanging it over the branch he sat on previously. As its blood dripped down to the forest floor, staining the dead leaves there, Kentarou let himself think about that dragon.

It was small, if the minuscule dot of silver he saw through the trees was any indication, or it at least had to be smaller than half the dragons he’d encountered already. And it wasn’t only following him around now, it was… helping him? By chasing a rabbit towards where he was for him to kill? Which meant that the dragon was a lot more intelligent than most people. And maybe that it wanted to help him.

But that would mean dragons had free thought, or could make decisions for themselves, or had consciences… Dragons were a lot more complicated than he could have ever hoped for. Were all dragons capable of this?

And more importantly, the dragon was a familiar shade of silver that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

The shade, the glint… it all reminded him of something, but it evaded him every time he thought about it too hard.

By the time he shook himself out of his thoughts, the sun was already in a completely new position in the sky, making the shadows longer and more sinister, and the rabbit was almost completely dry. He sighed, heaving himself to his feet and situating everything he had on his person before making the trudge back to the home he shared with his uncle.

“One rabbit,” he grunted, handing it to a surprised Kiyoshi as he walked through the door.

“Ya actually got sumthin’?” Kiyoshi guffawed, looking at the rabbit incredulously. “And a fat one, at that.”

“Aren’t all rabbits the same size?” Kentarou asked.

“This one here’s pretty fat. Actually surprised the devils hadn’t gotten to it yet,” Kiyoshi noted, bringing it over to the small table they had in the middle of the house and pulling out his knife. “Dunno if we should sell this or eat it,” he muttered.

“Do what you want with it, I guess,” Kentarou shrugged. “I’m headin’ to bed.”

“Tired after bringin’ one bunny home?” Kiyoshi retorted. “You’re getting’ soft, Ken.”

“Gonna get up early tomorrow,” Kentarou amended, not wanting his uncle to think he was lazy. “Something tells me I’ll have better luck.”

* * *

At the crack of dawn, Kentarou clambered out of the house and traversed into the woods once more. The paths he’s been taking have been becoming more familiar to him lately, almost a little more worn-down than the rest of the wilderness. He made a note to take different paths in the future. He also took note of the pointed paw print embedded in the a softer patch of dirt along this slightly beaten path.

_The dragon_ , Kentarou figures, smiling a little to himself as he goes and releases the dragons from their traps.

As he figured, the silver dragon that’s been watching over him got a lot better at helping him out. At almost every turn there was some sort of animal scurrying by in fear. Once, at around midday, one tree almost came crashing down to send some birds flying from their nests. Kentarou was grateful, but was honestly kind of worried about how far the dragon was willing to go in order to help him.

Either it being quick thinking or reckless thinking, it didn’t matter, because Kentarou had a plan.

He shot and killed as many small animals as he could, which wasn’t too hard since the dragon really had a knack for its newfound job. He dried most of them, only letting one or two be as he cleaned his arrows and got back to picking off as many as he could. By sunset, he had enough rabbits and chipmunks strung around his waist to look like a nice belt. Normally, he would have gone back home to Kiyoshi to clean out all his kills, but he found a patch of forest that still had sun filtering through the leaves and sat down.

He took one of the unbled rabbits and held it in his hands.

“I don’t know why,” he spoke, looking at the rabbit but making sure his voice carried in the wild stillness, “but you’re helping me more than I could ever ask for. Some of this is your reward, too.” Kentaoru thought for a moment. “You could catch them easier than I ever could, and you’re helping me instead. I don’t… understand… but, please continue to help me!”

He threw the rabbit as far away from himself as he could, and it landed right on the edge of the clearing. He could feel the dragon eyeing him curiously, its gaze as sharp as the points on his arrows, and he had to heave a sigh. So, it wasn’t going to come out with him watching, huh? Fine, Kentarou could play along, too.

Kentarou buried his head in his hands, making sure his eyes were completely covered, and waited.

Time blurred when sitting in almost complete darkness, so it almost shocks Kentarou when he hears the unmistakable sounds of leaves and tree branches shifting and something being swallowed whole. He doesn’t move, doesn’t _breath_ , only waits for the trees to shift again.

By the time he opens his eyes, the sky is painted a transition from orange to blue and a streak of silver slips away from him.

Triumphant, he heads back to the house.

* * *

Days pass like this, where Kentarou would return with more meat anyone in the village has seen in one place before, although one or two less than he originally shot. The silver dragon was getting more comfortable, slipping in to eat his offerings nearly a second after he covered his eyes. It felt exhilarating, surreal, like he realy couldn’t believe that it was happening himself.

Everything fell into a pattern, with Kiyoshi going to the market to sell most of the meat he cured that Kentarou brought in the previous day and with Kentarou going out to hunt more and see if he could be closer to his dragon. It felt dangerous, getting close to a dragon, depending on one, really, but what could he say? The dragon was helping him and Kiyoshi get by; he wasn’t about to complain, though he was curious why the dragon seemed so fixed on him in the first place.

About a week after the first offering, Kentarou decided he needed to _see_ this creature instead of glimpse it. He _needed_ to know what this creature looked like if he couldn’t figure out why it was doing these things. It’s not like it could talk in the first place. He just needed to know if all of this was real, that it wasn’t some kind of prolonged dream or a figment of his imagination.

He ended his hunting session like he always did, finding the clearing that let in the most sunlight and sat down. He muttered his thanks, knowing the dragon would hear him, and threw the only rabbit he killed that day towards the edge of the clearing. He jerked, moving to cover his eyes, but peeked through his fingers.

The dragon was larger than him, he could tell that much as it crashed through the tree branches that surprisingly didn’t break. As it lunged for the rabbit, its silver and gold-patterned scales glinted in the waning sunshine.

Kentarou was not expecting for it to look right at him, but in the next moment, they locked eyes, Kentarou’s molten gold meeting its light brown. He couldn’t look away, awed by how _human_ the expression of surprise was as it shone behind its irises, by the way its silver wings tucked themselves closer to its body, as the dragon tensed but its eyes shone with fondness.

“ _Human_.”

The thought reverberated through Kentarou’s mind unbidden and he gasped at the sound of another voice, and the feeling of something _else_ , in his head.

The dragon’s eyes widened before fleeing as it came.

* * *

Kentarou doesn’t dream, but that night, he did.

It started in completely darkness. He was claustrophobic, cramped so that his every joint, every limb, felt twisted out of proportion. He couldn’t help but try to yell for help, but to no avail.

Through the walls of his confinement, he felt a warmth. It was pleasant, comforting, and he strove to get closer to it. It felt like home, felt like something he _needed_ or couldn’t live without. He kicked, screamed, tried everything he could to get out, and when he heard a bubbling laughter, his efforts redoubled. The sound was high, clear, and pure, he _needed_ to see who made it! Whatever was on the other side of his trap was as necessary as air, he knew, he _had to_ -

And then the warmth was gone, and his trap spun over and over and over again and he continued to fight to get out. He was frantic, he felt like he was _dying_ without that warmth, that sound, that _beautiful_ , _unique_ …

His confinement cracked under his flailing, and he felt sunshine for the first time, but it didn’t compare to the warmth he experienced what felt like a century ago.

His surroundings fell away, reconfiguring itself in a smear of crystal blue that matched the sky perfectly. He left weightless, with his stomach left down on earth as he moved through the sky as easily as if he was slipping into water.

Everything disassembled once more, and instead he found himself perched in a tree, looking down at the forest floor at… _himself_.

He woke up with a shock, heaving every breath like it was going to be his last. He ran his hands through his hair, down his face and his chest, feeling that he _was_ in his body and in his house and _in_ _reality_. He was shaking, uneasy, and would have curled under his thin blanket once more if Kiyoshi wasn’t knocking on the walls to wake him up.

That day, there were no streaks of brilliant silver in the corners of his eyes and no abundance of animals to shoot at. It was almost as if the forest had been cleared off entirely; the trees, themselves, were so still the whole forest felt like it was dead.

He did, though manage to shoot one small bird as it flitted away from where he was. It was a lucky shot, he would admit that much to himself. At the end of the day, he sat in the same clearing, murmured a thanks, and threw the bird. When he closed his eyes dutifully, there was no rustling, no movement, and, like the rest of the day had already confirmed, no feeling of dragon’s eyes seeing right through him.

“Wha’ happened ou’ there?” Kiyoshi asked gruffly as he walked into the house with nothing.

“I must’ve cleared my regular hunting ground,” Kentarou reasoned, knowing that was more than a lie and hoping his uncle wouldn’t catch on. “I’ll start looking at different places tomorrow.”

“Haven’t seen any dragons?”

“ _What_.”

“Damn, boy, I never thought you were the jumpy type,” Kiyoshi chastised, confused by the way Kentarou jerked in response to his question. “You’re ou’ in those damned woods all the time, I thought ya would’ve seen one o’ them devils and killed it by now.”

“They’re not buggin’ anyone.” Kiyoshi laughed. “Well, they’re not bugging _me_. I don’t have to kill them-”

“They’re the reason you’re ou’ there in the firs’ place!” Kiyoshi erupted. “You think you would be hunting every day if it weren’t for those damned beasts? They take our food! They make us sick with their shit and piss all over the place!”

“That’s not their fault,” Kentarou replied, and when he heard Kiyoshi suck in a breath to refute him, “I’m not arguing about this. I’ll stir the stew we had left over from yesterday.”

And that was that.

* * *

The next day, Kentarou trekked deeper into the woods after setting free all the traps he saw along the way. The dragons still scattered away just as fast as they usually did, but for some reason their eyes lingered on him more than they would’ve. Unnerved, but not greatly so, he moved on, but he still didn’t see silver whenever he moved and his mind kept wandering towards the thought of the silver dragon.

It was beautiful, no doubt about it. He’d never seen any dragon colored like that before, it was so unique, and yet, how did the whole thing feel so familiar to him…?

The memory resurfaced so harshly, it made Kentarou freeze.

The rock he found when he was little. The dream of being trapped, the dream of flying, the dream of _seeing himself_ …

That was no rock. It was _an egg_.

“Figured it out, human?” someone seethed behind him, and before another word could be spoken, Kentarou swung around, an arrows already nocked, to look at the person who spoke.

They were taller than him, Kentarou noticed bitterly, and paler. The only thing they were wearing was something that looked like a skirt made entirely out of animal skins.

“That’s the first time you ever pointed that at me,” they said, a little less of a sneer in their voice. “Put it away.”

“Who are you?”

“Haven’t you guessed? You seemed like you had it all figured out a moment ago. _Put it away_.”

Their features turned harsh, and when Kentarou finally let himself _look_ , he realized that their eyes were the same light brown, and their hair was the same brilliant silver with streaks of gold. He lowered his bow arm and put away the arrow. To say they were beautiful was an understatement.

“You’re the dragon,” Kentarou stated simply, looking at him in awe. “How…”

“Am I like this?” they questioned, stalking towards him with a sardonic smile twisting his thin lips. “ _You_ made me like this.”

“What?”

“You were the one that hatched me,” they stated simply, poking his chest with a finger that had a sharp enough nail to do some serious damage. “I was connected to _you_ , I became able to take on _your_ form at will, I listened to every thought in _your_ head, learned _your_ language… and oh, learned that being connected to a human is _pitiful_.”

“Well, if you hate me so much,” Kentarou snarled, slapping the other’s hand away from him, “why were you helping me all this time? Why were you following me? Why did all of this happen-?”

“Do you think I had a choice?” they snapped, taking a step away and running a hand through his hair. Kentarou noted it was a very _human_ thing to do, for a dragon. “We’re connected. It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m drawn into you like flies on a rotting carcass.”

“Flattering.”

“Shut up,” they mutter half-heartedly.

“No,” Kentarou replied. “You’re pretty pissed about this entire thing, but it could be a lot worse. You could be paired with my uncle or someone else in the village that hates everything about dragons. They’d rather see your head on a stick than have a conversation.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” they said. “Fate has some tricky plans, pairing me with a blood-thirsty human.”

“You mean I can’t get rid of you?” Ketarou said, grimacing dramatically.

“Why would you? You think I’m beautiful.”

“Your scales.”

“You thought that when you saw me human, too.”

“Why can’t I hear your thoughts?”

“Changing the subject so soon?” they mocked, giving him a grin. “I’m connected to you, so I can hear everything. You’re not, so it doesn’t work both ways.”

“Why?”

“Well, firstly, you were unaware of our connection until moments prior.”

“So you’re saying with more time-?”

“No more questions,” they said, sighing heavily.

“One more?” Kentarou asked hopefully. “I don’t know what I should call you.”

“Shigeru.”

“Shigeru?”

“It was the name you always wanted for something.”

“Like a dog or a little sibling, maybe! Not a…”

“Lifemate?”

“What?”

“You only asked for one more question,” they, Shigeru, Kentarou guesses, said shortly. “We need sustenance, don’t we?”

They trekked farther into the woods and Kentarou settled into a spot. Shigeru disappeared through a thicket of trees, and not a second later, the silver dragon appeared and perched itself high in the trees. He was still beautiful, Kentarou thought, hoping Shigeru could hear him, but this was a different kind of beauty. It was fierce. Dangerous.

“ _You’re not bad, yourself_ ,” he heard clearly at the back of his head. To him, the admission almost sounded reluctant. A smile tugged its way across his face just as the first chipmunk scampered down a tree and past him.

* * *

“I could bring you cooked meat, if you want,” Kentarou offered, watching almost uncomfortably now as Shigeru swallowed some of his kills whole. A second later, with a slight pop, Shigeru stood in front of him and gave him a confused look.

“Why? This works fine,” he said it with a shrug, but Kentarou would be lying if he didn’t hear a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“But you’re human too, right? It doesn’t sit right with me to only let you eat raw meat.” So, Kentarou felt embarrassed for being grossed out by the whole thing, but he thought he had a point. What if Shigeru made himself sick?

“I’m sure I’ll be fine, but do as you wish,” Shigeru replied. “I’m just surprised you even care that much.”

“What do you mean?”

“It usually takes longer than this for Lifemates to be so invested,” Shigeru said offhandishly. Kentarou gave him a confused look, which made him sigh. “Mothers are supposed to hatch their eggs, but when they don’t, whoever or whatever does becomes the dragon’s Lifemate. It’s just an unbreakable bond between the two and has different effects for different pairs. I’ve known for longer, and since your thoughts accompanied mine throughout my life, I’m more invested than you are. However, your obvious concern hints that the bond is growing.”

Kentaoru thought about it for a second, before smiling deviously. “You make this sound like a relationship.”

“Don’t twist my words,” Shigeru scoffed.

“ _I’m more invested than you are_ , _we have a bond_ , it sounds like we’re a couple,” Kentarou couldn’t help but laugh at the notion. Shigeru soured.

“Dragon Lifemate pairs tend to be so, yes,” he replied quietly.

“Oh?” That pulled Kentarou up short. “Is it a guaranteed thing?”

“The bond usually strengthens until the two become inseparable. It is usually the next logical step.”

“Well, good, because I can already tell you’re in love with me,” Kentarou muttered.

“I am no such thing.”

“You know everything about me, I’m assuming, you helped me hunt, you’re leading me though this whole thing right now, plus…”

“Plus?”

“You sound almost hurt when you said that I wasn’t as invested as you were.” Kentarou and Shigeru stared at each other, the awkward tension palpable, before Shigeru turned away.

“It’s late. You should be back already.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Don’t try to fake anymore concern.”

“I’m not faking it.”

“Then I can already tell that you’re in love with me, too.”

“Just because you’re attractive, doesn’t mean-”

“I think it does.”

“ _Good night_ , Shigeru.”

* * *

 

That night, Kentarou dreamed again, only this time it was filled with more images of him. He was still filled with the warm, almost tingling emotions of care and affection when he woke up. It dawned on him, halfway through breakfast, that this must be what Shigeru dreamt of as well.

Kentarou smiled and burst out laughing at the prospect of making fun of him for it.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys liked it!!!!! if you want to talk or have a request for me, just come by on my tumblr and shoot me an ask!!!  
> Thank you for reading, stay safe, and know that everything gets better with time!!!  
> Love you!!  
> -HB


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